


Worth It

by Catstaff



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Harmony & Co's Lyric Llama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:55:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23432776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catstaff/pseuds/Catstaff
Summary: Written for Harmony & Co's Lyric Llama, based on the lyrics "If you only knew, I'm hanging by a thread, The web I spin for you, If you only knew, I'd sacrifice my beating, Heart before I'd lose you" from If You Only Knew by Shinedown
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter
Comments: 1
Kudos: 64
Collections: Lyric Llama





	Worth It

_It’s for Harry,_ Hermione Granger thought to herself as she slowly got off the Hogwarts Express at the end of her sixth year. _Yes, it’s also to keep them safe, but really, it’s so I can be there for Harry. I know Ron says he’ll be there, but I don’t trust him anymore, not after the number of times he’s betrayed Harry’s trust. Not to mention Mrs. Weasley’s habit of thinking for her children and wanting to keep them from danger. Not a bad thing in and of itself, but she takes it way too far. Without Dumbledore alive and telling her outright to let Ron work with us, I see her as more likely to try to stop all three of us from whatever we decide to do, especially if it involves not returning to school next year, but I don’t think it’ll be safe to return, especially not for me and Harry._

The seventeen-year-old witch said her goodbyes to the Weasleys and once through the barrier, to Harry Potter as well. “You take care of yourself,” she whispered, hugging him tightly. “Order be damned, I’m going to come visit as soon as I can. No communications breakdown this year, I promise.” She slipped her home phone number into his pocket. “Call me if you need to talk, okay? I guarantee the Death Eaters won’t be tapping the phone lines.”

Harry managed a smile and a brief chuckle at her little joke. “I will, and I’m looking forward to your visit, no matter how much it annoys the Dursleys,” he replied. “You be careful too, okay?”

“I promise,” she answered, impulsively giving him a swift kiss on the lips before moving away to greet her mother. 

Harry raised a hand to his mouth, staring after Hermione for a long moment before Vernon Dursley snapped at him. “Move it, boy, I’d like to get home sometime today, you know.” 

“Yes, sir,” he said with a sigh, picking up his trunk and Hedwig’s cage and giving one last glance in the direction Hermione had gone before following his uncle out of the station.

Sitting beside her mother as they drove through London towards Crawley, Hermione tested the waters a bit, trying to see if the mild compulsions she’d been putting on her letters home over the last couple of months had taken in her parents. Compulsions designed to encourage them to go traveling for an extended period of time, so as to keep them away when the Death Eaters’ activities inevitably spilled into the muggle world. “How are things going at the practice?” she asked.

“Actually, honey, your father isn’t with us right now because he’s talking to someone who’d like to buy us out,” Carol Granger told her daughter. “We’re a little young to retire altogether, but you’re obviously never going to learn dentistry and join us in it, so why bother holding onto it forever? Todd Atkinson is a fine young dentist who’s ready to set out on his own, and your father and I were thinking we might like to volunteer with Dentaid, a new dental charity group just started last year. Travel and see the world, while still keeping our hands in, as it were. We did worry a little about you, mind, but as your father pointed out, even when you’re home for the summer hols, you end up spending half the time staying with those friends of yours, so we decided you’re close enough to grown that you’d be all right even if we leave before summer’s done.”

_Perfect,_ Hermione thought, hiding a sigh of relief. Her compulsions seemed to have worked exactly as she’d hoped. “That sounds wonderful, Mum,” she said out loud. “Are you going to sell the house as well?”

Carol dithered at that. “Well, Dad and I wanted to discuss that with you, honey. Selling is one possibility, but our other thought was that we’d like to know there’s a place to come home to if we get tired of the traveling. Dad’s got an appointment with our solicitor to see about transferring the house deed into your name. That way you’ll always have a place to lay your head, no matter where your future happens to take you.”

Hermione smiled. “That makes sense,” she agreed. “Do you know what I’d have to do? I mean, since I’m gone at school and all. I wouldn’t want to have to worry about something like the water heater leaking when I’m gone or anything like that.”

“Well, there are a few options,” Carol said. “You could rent the place out, with the stipulation that the tenants would have to see to any repairs necessary while you’re away at school, but you’d have to reduce the rent in the case of repairs so they’d need to show the receipts for any jobs they had done. You could simply pay a handyman to come ‘round on a weekly basis to keep up the garden and make sure everything else is in working order. Or you can have the water and electric shut off while you’re at school; a plumber would be able to drain the water heater and the pipes so they won’t freeze up with no one there.”

“I’ll give it some thought,” Hermione said. “I’d honestly rather not rent it out, if for no other reason than I’d like the option of going home for the short hols even if I don’t take it. I couldn’t do that if someone else is living there, after all.”

“True enough,” Carol agreed. “Well, you’ve time to think it over, as it’ll take at least a couple of weeks to transfer the deed to you and get everything properly registered, if that’s the option we choose. But it most likely will be; I know your father was concerned about what you’d do if we just up and left, and worried that you’d end up stuck moving in with three or four roommates in a flat that’s too small for the lot of you.”

Hermione laughed. “A flat all my own would likely be too small to hold all my books anyway, Mum.”

Carol Granger laughed heartily with her daughter, and the conversation turned to lighter subjects for the remainder of the drive. Upon their arrival home, they were greeted by a pleased Rob Granger, who happily announced the sale of the Grangers’ dental clinic and their planned first Dentaid excursion to establish a clinic in rural Latvia. Over the course of the next week, the elder Grangers traded their car for a campervan and packed it with the essentials for living on the road for at least a year. They also put the house into Hermione’s name and helped her hire a caretaker so that she would be able to return home over the Christmas and Easter hols without needing to worry about getting the water or electricity turned on and off again.

At the end of June, with her heart breaking, Hermione rode with her parents to Dover, to see them and their load of refurbished dental equipment off on their journey to Latvia. She managed to keep smiling until they drove onto the ferry to cross the Channel, only breaking down in tears as the vessel pulled out and into the open water. She wondered if she’d ever see her parents again.

Once she dried her tears, she took a deep breath and found a secluded spot behind the ferry dock’s skips, apparating to Diagon Alley from there. Determination on her face, she set about purchasing everything she could think of that might prove useful on a camping trip. When she finished the shopping, she looked up the next train to Little Whinging and made her way aboard.

Arriving at the village, she paused to ask directions to Privet Drive and slowly strolled past the play park, keeping her eye out as she knew Harry liked to spend time there whenever possible, to get away from his relatives for a while. She actually hoped he’d be there, as she wasn’t sure she truly wanted to meet the Dursleys after everything she heard about them. Luck was against her, however, and she soon found herself checking numbers on the nearly-identical houses of Privet Drive, searching out Number 4. Once she found it, she took a deep breath and rang the bell, half-surprised that no one from the Order popped out to ask what she was doing there.

“May I help you?” asked the thin, horse-faced woman who opened the door. “Because we’re not in the market for any magazine subscriptions nor are we willing to donate to any charities outside of our church.”

How on earth did Harry end up so sweet, living with this? Hermione wondered as she gave a polite smile. “Actually, Mrs. Dursley, I’m here to see Harry.”  
Petunia Dursley’s expression froze, then took on a look of distaste. “Are you from that school, then?” she asked. “We didn’t expect anyone to come for the boy this early. Usually they wait until August.”

“I’m a friend of Harry’s from school, yes,” she replied. “My name is Hermione Granger. May I come in?”

“I suppose,” Petunia said reluctantly, holding the door open just enough for the girl to step inside. “He’s in his room. Upstairs, first door on the left. Leave it open while you’re in there, please. I’ll have no shenanigans happening under my roof.”

“Thank you,” Hermione said before making her way upstairs. She rolled her eyes at the numerous locks on the door, although at least they weren’t engaged. She rapped on the door and pushed it open. “Surprise,” she called softly.

Harry shot up from the bed where he’d been lounging with his charms book. “Hermione!” He opened his arms and stepped forward a little hesitantly.

“Oh, Harry,” she said and flung herself into his embrace. As his arms enfolded her protectively, she started to cry once more.

Harry pulled her to the bed, sitting down and settling her on his lap, stroking her hair gently and murmuring reassurances. When her sobs started to ease off, he asked, “What happened, are you okay?”

“I’m not hurt or anything,” she said. “I just… I feel horrible. With all that’s coming… I made my parents leave the country. I know it’s for their safety, but… I made them leave, so I could come with you on that project you were left to do. Because I can’t protect them and help you, so I sent them away. Used compulsions, even, to make sure they went.”

“I… you did that for me? So you could help me?” Harry looked a combination of gobsmacked, grateful, and awed. “Hermione, that’s… I don’t think anyone’s ever done anything so… so… I can’t find the words to tell you how much that means to me.”

“I don’t know what the Order has planned,” she told him. “However, I don’t think Molly Weasley is going to let us out of her clutches if we let her get near us. I’ve bought supplies for camping, food, a tent, backpacks and such, and I thought we might be better off leaving immediately instead of keeping to the original schedule we’d planned out. Especially since no one seems to be watching you today.”

Harry chuckled at that. “Dung’s on duty, so yeah, he’s sleeping it off under the box hedge in the back garden. I dragged him there when I was weeding earlier today.”

Hermione snorted and they spent the next hour or so going through Harry’s things, deciding what to take and what to leave. They headed back downstairs and into the kitchen once they were done packing.

“Aunt Petunia, I’m leaving now, and you won’t likely see me again,” Harry said quietly. “I think the wards will still hold until my birthday, but you’ll want to move as soon as possible either way. I wouldn’t put it past the Death Eaters to try to use you and your family against me. Try to be safe.”

Petunia sighed. “You as well,” she said. “Vernon’s already talked to an estate agent. I’ll let him know we’ve got to move sooner than later, and I do appreciate the warning.” She gave him a small but genuine smile, the first he ever recalled seeing from her.

He smiled back. “Goodbye, Aunt Petunia.” Taking Hermione’s hand, he walked out the front door and up the street towards the play park. Once they were well away from the house, he asked Hermione, “So, did you have a place in mind to go to? I’ve a fair amount of galleons left with me, but no pounds.”

She smiled. “I figured we’d take the train into London; I’m of age but I didn’t want to do any magic too close to where you live, for fear of the consequences. I can apparate us to a place near the camping area I had in mind to start our project and it shouldn’t be noticed since we’ll be near Diagon if not in it.”

He agreed and they followed her plan, ending up in a muggle campground in Yorkshire. After going about the business of setting up the tent, building a fire, and cooking sausages and some tinned beans for dinner, they relaxed and toasted some marshmallows. Harry kept looking at his companion and starting to say something before shutting his mouth again. Hermione finally got fed up with it.

“You know you can say anything to me, don’t you?” she asked.

“I… yeah. I just… erm… you surprised me when you kissed me at King’s Cross,” he mumbled. “I thought you fancied Ron?”

She blushed. “Oh… well, I did for a time, but not anymore. After… after everything that’s happened, I really thought about things, and well, I like him and all, he’s decent company at times, but I don’t entirely trust him either. He can’t keep secrets any better than Hagrid and with his temper he’s too inclined to go off half-cocked about something. I know his heart’s in the right place, but he’s not anyone I would consider dating, not anymore.”

Harry nodded. “Oh… well… would you, erm, would youconsiderme?” he muttered almost too softly to hear, turning beet red in the process.

Hermione blinked, not quite sure she’d heard him correctly. “I would, but what about Ginny?”

“I broke up with her at Dumbledore’s funeral. I’m honestly not sure if we were ever really dating, you know?” Harry said. “I mean, she was with Dean until they had some kind of argument and the next thing I knew, she was jumping on me and snogging me after we won the Quidditch Cup. After that. Everyone just seemed to assume we were a couple and I didn’t know how to say we weren’t, especially to her. I mean, she seemed like she had this whole fairy-tale life planned out and picked me for her Prince Charming because of those stupid books, but I don’t think she knows me at all. Not like you do.” He ducked his head a bit, blushing again. “So, I know this is probably the stupidest of times and places to ask, but, will you be my girlfriend?”

“Oh yes,” she murmured, slipping into his arms and kissing him softly. _As they sat cuddling by the fire, she thought, I’ve sent my parents away and I’m giving up my academic dreams as well. I won’t be Head Girl, I probably won’t even sit my NEWTs this year. Being your girlfriend could put me even further up the Death Eaters’ hit list than I already am. But you, Harry Potter, are worth it. You’re worth everything to me._


End file.
